Climate investors outside the coasts: Texas, the Midwest and beyond

• 3,389 US climate investors; 1,021 outside CA, NY and MA.
• Texas: 177 climate investors, 21% of its sector-tagged investors.
• 48% of climate investors with a listed stage include pre-seed.
• Energy-industry corporate venture arms are active outside the coastal hubs.
• Look for investors near your customers: utilities, refiners, manufacturers.

Key findings

• 1,021 US climate and energy investors in our database are based outside California, New York and Massachusetts, 32% of the 3,206 with a known state.
• Texas has the most climate investors outside those three states (177), and the highest climate share of any state with at least 100 sector-tagged investors: 21%.
• Illinois (108), Washington (92), Florida (82) and Colorado (58) follow.
• Climate investors lean early: 1,600 of 3,358 with a listed stage (48%) include pre-seed, against 40% of all US startup investors with a listed stage.
• Energy companies' venture arms are part of the picture: Chevron Technology Ventures has more climate-focused investor records outside the big three states than any other firm in our data.

Why climate founders should look inland

Climate and energy companies often build where the physical work is: oil and gas regions moving into new energy, manufacturing belts, farm states, utilities and grid operators. The investors who understand permitting, project finance and industrial buyers are often in the same places. This report counts the 3,389 US startup investors in the Zalarma investor database, as of 2026-11-01 who list climate, energy, cleantech or sustainability as a focus, and shows where they are when you take California, New York and Massachusetts out of the picture.

Climate investors outside CA, NY and MA

Share is climate investors as a percentage of the startup investors in that state who list at least one sector.

Where climate is a bigger slice of the local market

Among states with at least 100 sector-tagged startup investors, climate investors make up the largest share in Texas (21%), Washington, DC (18%), Illinois (17%) and Colorado (17%). California is at 16%: more climate investors in absolute terms, but a smaller slice of a much bigger market. Massachusetts, often seen as a climate hub, is at 12% in our data.

Metros to know

• Chicago: 104 climate investors.
• Austin: 80. Houston: 68. Dallas: 25.
• Seattle: 79.
• Miami: 61. Atlanta: 31.
• Washington, DC: 59, where policy and federal programs meet private capital.
• Denver/Boulder: 45. Salt Lake City: 17.
• Pittsburgh and Minneapolis: 11 and 11.

Texas stands out with three metros on the list. Houston's 68 climate investors are 17% of all startup-investor records in the Houston metro.

Who is investing

Firms with the most climate-focused investor records outside CA, NY and MA (records in brackets): Chevron Technology Ventures (12), Moving Capital (11). Others with several records include Energy Impact Partners, Arizona Tech Investors, Prime Movers Lab, GRA Venture Fund, LLC, Energize Capital, RET Ventures, Hustle Fund, VoLo Earth Ventures, HG Ventures, Mercury Fund. The list mixes corporate venture arms from the energy industry, climate-specialist funds and generalist early-stage funds that list climate among several sectors.

Stages and check sizes

• Stages listed: pre-seed 1,600, seed 3,045, Series A 1,903, Series B and later 865.
• Median check range: $100K to $3M.
• Check bands by minimum (2,983 with a stated check): under $50K 434; $50K–$250K 1,364; $250K–$1M 684; $1M+ 501.
• Climate investors also list software (2,083), consumer (1,888) and deep tech or hardware (1,488).

What to do with this

1. Look where your customers are. If you sell to utilities, refiners or manufacturers, the investors near those buyers understand the sales cycle.
2. Talk to corporate venture arms early. They can open pilots, but they move on their own timeline. Treat them as strategic, not as your lead, unless they say they lead.
3. Mix climate specialists with generalists. Many climate investors list climate as one of several sectors; a software-and-climate investor may fit a climate software company well.
4. Use the early tilt. With 48% of climate investors listing pre-seed, a first round is realistic even before a pilot is complete.

Browse all climate investors, the Texas climate list, or every startup investor in Texas.

Methods note

Data: Zalarma investor database, as of 2026-11-01. A climate investor is a US startup-investor record whose focus areas, industry or sector fields mention climate, energy, cleantech or sustainability. "Outside the coasts" here means outside California, New York and Massachusetts, the three states with the most startup investors in our data; other coastal states such as Washington and Florida are included. Shares use as the base the startup-investor records in each state that list at least one sector, for states with at least 100 such records. Firm counts are the number of investor records tied to that firm. Counts under 10 are suppressed. These are records in our database, not a census of every climate investor.